The Iron Key
by TheLittlestTrickster
Summary: After receiving punishment from his father, Loki escapes to Earth. The Avengers split up to find him but in the end, Loki finds Tony instead. Tony goes missing afterwords and there's not even a trace left behind. Four months later they're finally able to pinpoint his suit but will Tony be there waiting for them? Or was he killed by Loki? Also...who's that little boy? DE-AGING


author's note; there are few things I will point out in this story. One, Jarvis has a robotic body, and Phil Coulson is "alive" in this story. Also Underline words mean their speaking a different language.

_It happened four months ago, the skies were gray and threatening rain, not much was going on. The Avengers were just informed that Loki had escaped Asgard after being punished by Odin. Thor had explained that the God of Mischief had ran off to Midgard, and he no idea exactly where he could be. So the search for Loki began, and each of the Avengers split up in order to find him. From what SHIELD had gathered, there were exactly six places where he could be, one for each of them. It was somewhat suspicious, almost as if Loki was purposely trying to take them apart, which in retrospect was most likely the idea. Yet nonetheless they each took their own way and promised the second they spotted Loki they would call for back up. In the end, none of them called. _

_ A week passed and there was absolutely no signs of Loki. It was almost as if he vanished again which to the other's seemed very possible, but Thor insisted there was no way for him to leave in the state he was in. Just as they were about to give up on the search and try again later, they got a call for Tony who was searching France at the time. He seemed out of breath and in pain when he called, which got them to wonder what happened to him. Quickly Tony got out the word's 'he's here', before the call got ended. Everyone got to France as fast as they could, but it took way too long. By the time they arrived, there was no trace of Loki or Tony anywhere. They tried to find Tony, but it was almost as if he had disappeared! SHIELD agents had arrived moments later after they had and did a full search of the land. Three days passed and none of them came up with any answers. Tony and Loki were gone. _

_ Upon returning back to New York, they greeted a sad Pepper Potts, a concerned AI Robot Jarvis, and a silent Phil Coulson with bad news. Pepper was heartbroken when they told her Tony was missing, she sobbed into Phil's arm while he tried to comfort her. Jarvis just stared blankly at them before attempting to search for the suit and ignored everything they said. After twenty minutes though of crying, of searching, they finally came to terms with it, and just stopped. Pepper informed Jarvis that she'd be taking care of Stark Industries and would need his help, the AI Robot just nodded and went to work. Phil told Thor that it would be best for him to go back to Asgard and check to see if Loki had gone home. The Thunder God just nodded and left right away. This left Steve, Clint, Natasha, and Bruce. None of them knew exactly what to do now, and wondered how they would break the news to the public. Someone would soon question why Tony Stark was missing and why his girlfriend was now taking over Stark Industries. They couldn't say he was dead, but how would they explain that he just vanished all of a sudden? Either way, the news would be hard to repeat. _

_ Now, it's present day, it was a gray day just like the day they first got word of Loki running away to Earth. The Avengers minus Tony and Thor, were at their tower, still trying to find the God of Mischief. Then, Jarvis rushed into the room, blank face as usual, but one could tell he had important news. He placed, rather, threw, a pile of papers in front of the Avengers, and held one of them up. It was a detailed map of France, but there was an added image to it. Far off from most cities and towns,h hidden by a forest, was an underground base that Jarvis had discovered. _

_ "I think I have found Mr. Stark," He said. "At least his suit. This facility seems to be able to block even my scanning system."_

_ "So someone must've unblocked the wavelength or whatever they were sending," Clint said looking at the papers._

_ "Tony," Bruce whispered. _

_ "Everyone, suit up," Steve said and stood up._

-()()-()()-

The plane landed about an hour ago, and now they made their way to the underground facilities entrance point. It was hidden amongst nature, no one would notice though unless they were searching for it. There in the center of the forest was a small opening. Natasha and Clint walked up towards a part of it, and examined one of the trees. Clint was able to spot a branch that seemed a bit odd and pulled it down. All of a sudden, an entrance opened up right in the center. They all jumped back and hid, after a few seconds, they ventured down quietly. It wasn't long before the Avengers reached a laboratory, filled with all sorts of gadgets and other high tech materials. Some were clearly stolen from SHIELD and others looked like old Stark Industry weapons, it must've took them some time to find one of those. There were also cages from the looks of it, padded rooms with a sealed door and a large glass window so the scientists could look in. Steve was disgusted at what he saw in there. Children, young children, ranging from five to ten, all looking as if they were dead inside. There with children who didn't have all their limbs, and other children with grotesque mutations all along their bodies. Bruce shuddered at what he saw, and for a second, he almost saw green when he saw the pathetic, hopeless looks in the eyes of those children.

"What's wrong with these people?" He asked in a hushed voice.

"I don't know what but we're going to stop them," Steve said glaring at a scientist from afar.

"Steve it's no use," Natasha said pointing the children out. "These children are already dead inside, nothing can bring them back."

"She's right," Clint said. "We have to find Stark now, and afterwords we can then kick their asses."

Steve nodded at him, and they all snuck into the laboratory. Scientists went on with their work unknowing of their presence, giving the Avenger's ample time to go to where Jarvis had pinpointed the suit. Just as they made it halfway there, all of the scientists scurried down the hallway looking excited. They decided to split up, concerned of what the scientists were so eager to see. Natasha and Clint went after the scientists, while Bruce and Steve went for the suit.

-Natasha and Clint-

They crawled through the vents towards the gathering, and saw that they were all sitting down in a circle around a single child. This child looked battered and worn, wearing clothes that were ill fit and disgusting. He looked like he still had a ray of hope in him, but the way he looked down in a defeated way, that ray was about to be extinguished. That boy looked skinny, really skinny, as if he hadn't eaten in a long time. Natasha scowled at them. These people were sick.

"Come now Clé," A scientist said. "Be a good boy and maybe we'll give you a reward."

"I don't want to do this anymore!" Clé cried. "Please! Just give me back my friend!"

"You'll get that stupid toy back if you do as we say. Now, I want you to get into that machine."

Clé let out a sob and Clint glanced at Natasha. She was glaring at the scientists now, and he wondered if he had to hold her back. Not that he would though, because he wanted to kill them too. The scientist couldn't take his sobbing anymore and snatched him up. He struggled and cried, but to no avail. The boy was soon stuck into the machine and the door shut. Clint recognized that machine from old files he had look into back at SHIELD. It was the same one they used on Steve. These people wanted to create another super soldier.

Neither of them hesitated and they both got out of hiding. All the scientists screamed at their arrival and attempted to escape. Some stayed to try to kill them, but it only got themselves killed. Natasha stopped the scientist from harming the boy, and was able to get him out in time. Clé cried when she let him out then latched onto her tightly. She quickly picked Clé up and rushed towards the exit.

"We're getting out of here!" She said.

"But what about Tony?" Clint asked.

"We'll look for him while we're running out of here!"

"Great! Hope Steve and Bruce are having a wonderful time like we are!"

-()()-()()-

"Hope Natasha and Clint are having a wonderful time like we are," Steve shouted.

There they were standing right in front of the ironman armor surrounded by guards. Steve was taking them out easily and so was Bruce, or rather, Hulk. Each guard was flung to the side as they tried to get the suit out. Hulk finally grabbed the suit after dealing with at least half of them, and charged out of the room. Steve followed quickly, taking out some of the guards along the way. They ran down the hallway, looking through each of the cell rooms to see if they could find Tony. Yet halfway through, they were starting to lose hope. All of the rooms were filled with children, not adults, and defiantly not Tony.

Finally, at the end of the hallway, they came across and empty one. The cell was littered with all sorts of books as well as paper with well drawn schematics on them. For a second, they thought they found Tony's cell room, that this was where he was at least not too long ago. But that small bed was a sign it was just another child's room, one they possibly favored more so than the others or had other plans for them.

Hulk growled upon seeing the room and hit the wall besides them. It crumbled under his fist before revealing another room. Steve peered in scanning the area then made his way inside. The room was an office, perhaps for the head scientist of the lab. On his desk were papers written in french but there was one thing Steve did understand. They were making another super soldier serum! That's what these children were being used for! His stomach churned in disgust as he took all of the papers. They broke so many children just to recreate a perfect soldier! These people weren't people anymore! They were cold heartless monsters! Clenching the papers tight in his hands, Steve looked around the room again to see if there was anything else that needed to be taken away. That's when he spotted it, on the very top shelf was a toy. It was a stuff brown dog from the looks of it, and one of it's eyes were missing. The dog had a creepy smile but still looked well loved.

"IN HERE!" A childish voice shouted.

Steve turned towards the door and watched as Natasha, Clint, and a young boy burst in. They quickly closed the door behind them before turning their attention back to him, Natasha and Clint did at least, the boy had his eyes on something else. Tracing his gaze towards the stuff animal, Steve grabbed it and gently handed it over.

"Friend!" The boy said happily and took it. "Thank you mister! Thank you!"

"Did you find Tony?" Natasha asked.

"No I'm guessing you didn't either," Steve said. "Who's the child?"

"I'm Clé mister. What are you doing here by the way? The scientists never used adults for their projects."

Everyone looked at him. They never use adults, so Tony wasn't there just his suit. Clé looked up at them innocently but the look of curiosity was soon replaced with terror.

"We gotta get out of here!" He shouted. "We gotta get out of here now! The scientists will take me away again! I don't want to though!"

"Don't worry kid we'll get you out," Steve said reassuringly. "Everyone move out! Tony's not here we'll look for him again later!"

They all nodded in agreement, and rushed out of the laboratory. Natasha quickly called for back up as Clint and Hulk took care of the guards that tried to stop them. Steve held the scared Clé in his arms along with the papers, making sure that the child wouldn't be harm in their dangerous escape. The shield had blocked many of the bullets that were shot at them, but one could never be too safe.

"They'll destroy this place the second we get out of here," Natasha informed them.

"But what about the children?" Steve asked.

"They're all dead inside," Clé said looking up at him. "They can't be saved."

Steve looked into the sad eyes of the young boy. He knew he was right, but still, to know that this many children were tortured, he wish he could save them.

-()()-()()-

"Friend look it's grass!" Clé shouted happily.

The Avengers watched as the little boy ran around showing his stuff dog 'Friend' the area. He was completely ignoring the soldiers that rushed by him to destroyed the underground lab. Clé was much too happy being outside to even care that his captors were being killed as they spoke. It made the Avengers smiled a bit, as they saw that happy go lucky grin on his face as he started chasing the birds that landed nearby. Clé went from a terrified boy, to just a normal child.

"Clé," Clint said getting his attention. "Ready to go home?"

"I can't," He said throwing Friend up into their air. "You're destroying it."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't have a home, they found on the streets before taking me here so, I'm an orphan."

That happy mood went away the second he said that. He turned towards them still smiling but held onto the stuff dog tight.

"I don't really remember much before the labs," Clé said. "I do remember waking up with no recollection of my parents or family for that matter. The scientists were my 'family' I guess you could say. Now that they're gone...I'm just going to wander the streets I guess."

"That's so sad," Bruce said quietly.

"It's fine Mister I'm a GENIUS someone would want me sooner or later right? That's why the scientists kept me!"

"A genius huh? How so?"

"Well...I'm smart enough to stop the wavelength they sent out so that the place would go undetected."

"That was you?"

"YEAH! It was really easy after a while! Then I snuck into the area where they kept that suit you grabbed. I was able to strengthen the tracking device signature so that it would go notice if anyone were to search France. Oh, and even before that, I was the one who created that machine they tried to put me in before miss over there and the other mister saved me!"

"YOU created that machine?" Steve asked surprised. "But you're just a kid! There's no way you could create such a thing!"

Clé took obvious offense to that and stuck out his tongue at the Captain. He rushed up towards Clint and reached up to him. Clint chuckled a bit before lifting him up and setting him on his shoulders. The boy grinned at the archer and held onto his hair for support before looking at Steve again.

"I created almost ninety five percent of their weapons and inventions," Clé said. "All the Stark Industries that they provided me I was able to reverse engineer then make them even better! If they wanted a new invention that would injected twenty different syringes into a child at the same time? I made it! Not that I'm proud of it but I was broken I did as they told me to. They also made me...made me..."

"What's wrong Clé?" Bruce asked gently. "What else did they made you do?"

"...They...wanted me to reverse engineer...my heart."

"Your heart?"

The boy quietly lifted up his big shirt and showed them his chest. A very faint glow came from under a thin layer of skin. Clé ripped it off wincing slightly before revealing a arc reactor. They all stared at it then at him.

"I've had this since I woke up...," He whispered. "If I take it out...I have a cardiac arrest...I'm lucky they didn't make me recreate this...because even though it's easy to make...it would be enough power to turn on the suit. That's why I made sure that they didn't even think of trying to get me to make one. If they had the suit...I know it would be bad...right?"

"It would be very bad...," Natasha whispered. "Clé is there absolutely nothing you remember? Before the labs?"

"No...I think I have dreams of the past...But...to be honest I can't make heads or tails of it."

"Just tell us, maybe we can reunite you with your parents."

"...Last week I had a dream. I was high above France I think, and just scanning the area. I don't know why I just was. For some reason I was wearing that suit of armor thing. Halfway through the scanning I was stopped by someone. He was a really scary man, he was crazy! I tried to call for someone and I got two words out...but by the time I said that...he killed me then I would wake up."  
"What was it? What did you say?"

"...He's here..."

There silence. Natasha looked at the guys with a serious look on her face.

"Guys I think we found Tony."


End file.
